Precision Optics Reports Second Quarter Fiscal Year 2022 Financial Results

GARDNER, Mass., Feb. 14, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Precision Optics Corporation, Inc. (OTCQB: PEYE), a leading designer and manufacturer of advanced optical instruments for the medical and defense industries, announced operating results on an unaudited basis for its second quarter fiscal year ended December 31, 2021.

The Company is also announcing that it intends to uplist to the NASDAQ Capital Market, has initiated the process to do so, and today released its preliminary proxy including an announcement that the Company will hold its first annual meeting since 2009.

The Company has scheduled a conference call for today, February 14, 2022 at 5:00pm ET to discuss the financial results and plans to uplist to the NASDAQ Capital Market.

Second quarter fiscal 2022 highlights:

• Financial results for the second quarter of fiscal 2022 include contributions from Lighthouse Imaging which was acquired on October 5, 2021.
• Revenue for the quarter ended December 31, 2021 was $3.90 million compared to $2.79 million in the same quarter of the previous fiscal year. Lighthouse contributed $1.18 million in second quarter revenue.
• Subsequent to the end of the quarter, the company received a production order for a defense/aerospace program of approximately $1.5 million.
• Subsequent to the end of the quarter, the Company received notice that one of its customer's products, that has been in the Company's development pipeline, has received 510(k) clearance from the FDA
• Gross margins for the quarter ended December 31, 2021 were 29% compared to 31% in the same quarter of the prior year.
• Net loss of $507,013 during the quarter included $350,452 of stock-based compensation and $94,055 of interest, depreciation and amortization expense. This compared to net loss of $213,456 in the same quarter a year ago.
• The Company's cash position at the end of the second quarter was $1.3 million.

Precision Optics' CEO, Joseph Forkey, commented, "The results of the second quarter included a significant rebound in revenue from the first quarter, both from organic operations and from the acquisition of Lighthouse Imaging.  The integration with Lighthouse is going well and we expect the synergies of the companies to result in accelerated growth going forward.  Our earlier acquisition of Ross Optical positioned us well to target larger defense / aerospace opportunities, and last week we announced the first of these with receipt of a production contract from a large new customer with an anticipated initial run rate of $3 million per year.  Also, a number of customers for existing production products that had been stalled by the pandemic recently placed follow-on orders or indicated plans to do so in the near future.  Finally, we continue to have several programs in our engineering pipeline that are likely to move to production in the next twelve months – one of which received FDA clearance just two weeks ago. 

Dr. Forkey continued, "It's really gratifying to see all of these positive developments coming together now, especially following a couple of challenging pandemic-impacted years. Looking forward we are confident that this positive momentum will lead to significant top and bottom line growth in the latter half of fiscal year 2022 and beyond."

Shareholder Meeting and Intent to List Shares on Nasdaq Capital Market
Today, the Company filed its preliminary proxy statement, including the announcement that the Company will be holding a shareholder meeting on April 8, 2022. Additionally, the Company is announcing it has initiated the process to list its shares on the Nasdaq Capital Market. In preparation for this listing, the Company will include in the proxy a motion for shareholder approval of a reverse split of shares at a rate within the range of 1.5:1 to 3:1. Depending upon a number of factors, including the future closing price of the Company's stock, the Company may or may not elect to pursue the split in order to meet Nasdaq qualifications.

"Given the positive trajectory of the business, including the recent acquisition of Lighthouse Imaging, recovery of some programs from pandemic delays, significant orders from new customers and overall growth in the business, we feel the timing is appropriate to begin the process to list the Company on the Nasdaq Capital Market," added Dr. Forkey. "We look forward to working through the process, with a goal to list following our annual shareholder meeting."

The following table summarizes the first quarter (unaudited) results for the periods ended December 31, 2021 and 2020:

Conference Call Details
Date and Time: Monday, February 14, 2022 at 5:00pm ET

Call-in Information: Interested parties can access the conference call by dialing (844) 735-3662 or
(412) 317-5705.

Live Webcast Information: Interested parties can access the conference call via a live webcast, which is available at https://www.webcaster4.com/Webcast/Page/2109/44590.    

Replay: A teleconference replay of the call will be available until February 21, 2022 at (877) 344-7529 or (412) 317-0088, replay access code 1851668. A webcast replay will be available at https://www.webcaster4.com/Webcast/Page/2109/44590.      

About Precision Optics Corporation
Founded in 1982, Precision Optics is a vertically integrated optics company primarily focused on leveraging its proprietary micro-optics and 3D imaging technologies to the healthcare and defense/aerospace industries by providing services ranging from new product concept through mass manufacture.  Utilizing its leading-edge in-house design, prototype, regulatory and fabrication capabilities as well as its Ross Optical division's high volume world-wide sourcing, inspecting and production resources, the Company is able to design and manufacture next-generation product solutions to the most challenging customer requirements. Within healthcare, Precision Optics enables next generation medical device companies around the world to meet the increasing demands of the surgical community who require more enhanced and smaller imaging systems for minimally invasive surgery as well as 3D endoscopy systems to support the rapid proliferation of surgical robotic systems. In addition to these next generation applications, Precision Optics has supplied top tier medical device companies a wide variety of optical products for decades, including complex endocouplers and specialized endoscopes. The Company is also leveraging its technical proficiency in micro-optics to enable leading edge defense/aerospace applications which require the highest quality standards and the optimization of size, weight and power. For more information, please visit www.poci.com.

About Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements that express the Company's intentions, beliefs, expectations, strategies, predictions or any other statements related to the Company's future activities or future events or conditions. These statements are based on current expectations, estimates and projections about the Company's business based, in part, on assumptions made by the Company's management. These statements are not guarantees of future performances and involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions that are difficult to predict. Therefore, actual outcomes and results may differ materially from what is expressed or forecasted in the forward-looking statements due to numerous factors, including those risks discussed in the Company's annual report on Form 10-K and in other documents that we file from time to time with the SEC. Any forward-looking statements speak only as of the date on which they are made, and the Company does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statement, except as required by law.

Following are the Company's Consolidated Balance Sheets at December 31, 2021 and June 30, 2021, and Statements of Operations, for the three and six month periods ended December 31, 2021 and 2020:

SOURCE Precision Optics Corporation